Over the past several years, every state in the southeast has adopted a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex couples from getting married. That is, every state except North Carolina. But that may change on May 8. That’s the day when North Carolinans will vote on a constitutional amendment known as “Amendment One,” which states that “marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state.”
The amendment has a mix of supporters and detractors, from conservative local organizations who support it, to the NAACP, which doesn’t. Taking sides, as well, are local churches. The Rev. Patrick Wooden is pastor of the Upper Room Church of God in Christ in Raleigh. He is in favor of the amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. The Rev. Nancy Petty is co-pastor of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, which is less than ten miles from Rev. Wooden’s church. Petty made history when she became the first openly gay minister to lead a Baptist church in the South. She opposes the amendment.